How To Become A Copywriter In The Shortest Possible Time

Listen very carefully: I’m going to tell you a secret.

And, I need you to promise you’ll never… never… repeat it to anyone else.  You see, what I’m about to divulge is from my past… and it’s embarrassing.

So you’ve got to promise.

Promise?

Good.

This is what happened: In 1983, I did my GCE ‘O’ level exams. These have since been replace with a watered down version called GCSE exams.  In the U.S. it would be whatever high schools kids do to graduate.

Oh, before I go on I need to tell you there’s a lesson in this story for you if you want to be a copywriter.  And it’s one that could improve your skills by leaps and bounds.  Even if you’ve been at it a while. 

Anyway, I’m embarrassed to say I failed, miserably.  It was Human Biology. 

In fact it was so bad I received a ‘U’ grade – Unclassified.  (Tell anyone and I’m coming looking for you, got it?)

I’m not making excuses (okay, maybe a little) but I don’t even remember covering a lot of the topics the exams were based on.  But that’s another story.

A classmate, who lived close by on the same street as me, also failed.  But he got a grade ‘D’.  That’s the grade after ‘C’ (in case you’re wondering).  So we both had to redo the whole course the next year if we wanted the certificate.  (Actually, he could have re-sat the exam as his grade wasn’t that bad, but he wanted to do much better – remember this for later).

Once the course began again I realised why I failed the first time – it was mind numbingly boring.  Even with a different teacher.  They just couldn’t make it interesting.

And throughout that second year I failed every test we had in class.  In fact it was a running joke amongst the other students whether I would receive a grade D or E.

However, come the end of the academic year and with a week and a half to go for the exam, I decided I wasn’t going to fail a second time and knuckled down to revise.

Every day I took out past exam papers and copied down the most popular questions from previous exams.  I then looked up the answers in the textbooks and began to copy them out by hand.  The majority of the answers were in essay format.

I took a piece of paper and pen and I copied out each and every single one of these essays word for word.  And I did it over… and over… and over again.

I also recorded the essays on an audio cassette recorder (it was one of those old flat ones with the chunky buttons.  If you remember them you must be pretty old by now).

The first thing I did each morning on waking was to press play and listen to the essays.  Then I’d get up and, after all the usual stuff you do on getting up in the morning; I sat down at 9am to copy out the essays again.  All of them.

I did this throughout the whole day, getting up only for necessities.  I looked up questions, found the answers and copied them out.  Rinse and repeat.

Then, at the end of the day when I got in bed, I would listen to them again.  I did for the whole week and a half leading up to the exam.

It got so, I didn’t even have to look in the books anymore: I could just write those essays from memory.

When it cam to the exams I wrote reams of content for the answers.  Now, here’s the funny thing –even though they were after the same answers, because the questions were worded differently my essay came out different to the answers I wrote out at home.

I don’t mean they were wrong.  Far from it.

What happened was, I actually understood everything I was writing and was paraphrasing the exact same material in my own words.

To cut a long story short, my classmate passed this time around with a grade ‘C’.  So he didn’t get the grade he hoped for despite doing well in class tests.

I, on the other hand, received a grade ‘A’.

When I showed him my result paper he burst out laughing saying, “That’s unheard of – from a grade ‘U’ to an ‘A’”.

And indeed it was.

Anyway, enough about me.  What about you?

What has this got to do with you and copywriting?

I’m glad you asked.

See, if you’ve ever read Gary Halbert’s newsletters (if you haven’t, shame on you, wannabe copywriter) you’ll see he advocates – no, insists – people copy out good copy by hand.  He firmly believes it’s the best way to become good yourself.  And I’m inclined to agree.

I did the same thing during my revision, but taking it a step further with the audio recordings.

Keep in mind I was just a kid finishing high school at the time and hadn’t even heard of Gary Halbert.  You could say I ‘invented’ the copy and tape method.  At least that’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

Rezbi’s Copy and Tape Method of Advertising Instruction

(Boy that sounds naff).

Still, it goes to prove these methods work.  And I still use them to this day.

Every single day I copy out at least one good advert.  I pick out million sellers and control beaters and go at it.

I’ve been doing this even more lately as I needed to get my writing back on track after a pretty dark spell.  And I’m happy to say… I’m back!

So, if you’re a beginning copywriter (or even an experienced one) get yourself a writing pad and pen, and start writing.  Copy out some ads by hand.  No computer allowed.

It will probably be a struggle at first, especially if you haven’t picked up a pen since school, but I guarantee you’ll get used to it.  Heck, I prefer it now. I find I’m much more creative when I write out my letters and articles before I type them up.

In fact, I don’t like typing any more.  I actually prefer writing by hand.

Also, all the top copywriters I personally know of write the first draft by hand, without making any corrections.

Allow me to explain what I mean by that last remark and how it can help you.

In my exam, I kept writing without stopping to make corrections.  The words just flowed from my pen to the paper. 

You see I’d done the ‘research’ and prepared well, I knew my subject intimately.  And I found that by writing without stopping to make corrections I could get a lot down on the paper.  Once I had finished writing I went back to check and correct any errors.

It’s the same with copywriting.  Just keep writing and getting words down on the paper.  You can edit later. 

Remember that you can’t edit anything if there’s nothing there.

Give it a go and see how you do.  You may have to push yourself for the first few weeks, but don’t give up.  I sincerely believe you’ll be astonished -- and very pleased -- with the end result.

And let me know how you get on.  Maybe I can help you out.

Best,
Rezbi

How 9/11 Forced Me To Come Up With A Fantastic Headline

Shortly after 9/11 I went on a teacher-training course.  There were quite a few people there - men and women - but mostly women.

Now picture this, I'm a Muslim guy - a practising Muslim guy - with a beard, and I wear a hat.

As you can imagine, all eyes fell on me as I walked into the classroom.  And the looks I was getting weren't very welcoming.  The women, in particular, were staring daggers at me.

You see, my beard and hat were my 'headline' as I walked in, and everyone there figured they already knew what I was about and what was coming.  I could see it in their eyes.

Anyway, as a general icebreaker, the instructor gave us a line and asked us to complete it (no, not a white line, silly).

The line was:  "If I won the national lottery I would..."

As we went around the room everyone said the usual - "...go on a world cruise", or, "...buy a Rolls Royce", etc.  You get the picture, right?

I knew I'd have to change my headline, the one I walked into the room with, and give everyone there an indication of the person I really am.

So, when it came to my turn I said, "If I won the national lottery I would... be very surprised... because I've never bought a ticket in my life".

The whole class erupted into laughter.

I got my winning headline.  After that it was all downhill.

Not only did everyone want to get to know me, they were happy to be part of my group.  As it turned out, the instructor placed me in a group with two women, one of whom was giving me particularly nasty stares at the beginning.

After my intro, she was happy to be in my group.

The rest of the course went extremely well, with me leading my team for the two days we were there.

And the icing on the cake?

After the course ended, the instructor mentioned that a small number of people, a very few, would be getting distinctions.  When I received my diploma a few weeks later, I found I was one of those people.

When I look back I realise that if I had not come up with a good 'headline' I may have had a very unpleasant time there.

And no one would have wanted to find out any more about me.  Which is what the headline is supposed to do - make people want to find out more.

Best,
Rezbi

How to Write Headlines That Sell Your Products and Make You Money

I'm sitting here tired and falling asleep.  Too tired to write but, here goes nothing...

When you write a headline, make sure it's alive.

Give the reader a reason to feel restless… stir his emotions… pique his interest till he can’t bear it, and he just has to read on to see what’s coming next.

A headline, of course, is… AN AD FOR YOUR AD! Gary Halbert

Your headline should demand to be read. It should stop your reader in his tracks and create an irresistible desire to read further and find out more.

On the average, 5 times as many people read the headlines as the body copy. It follows that unless your headline sells, you’ve wasted 90% of your money. David Ogilvy

The right headline can mean the difference between doubling your readership, and more. According to John Caples, one headline increased sales by 19 times against another.

When one advert brings in twice as many responses as another, despite the only difference being the headline, it stands to reason one headline is alive and the other is dead. And, when something is alive it can go to work and get results. If it’s dead, it can’t do anything.

…Your headline is the most important part of your website Michel Fortin

This is a fact regardless of where your advertising is - whether it’s online, in a magazine or a newspaper, or anywhere else. The principles of advertising are the same everywhere. There may be minor changes required from one medium to another, as in print or on television, but the principles will remain the same.

What your headline must do is to grab your prospect by the eyeballs and keep them glued to your advert. And, by the law of averages, if more people read your ad, then more will respond.

When writing your headline you always need to keep in mind that everyone is busy. Especially with the internet, no one really wants to read any more as they used to.

So you will have to ensure your headline is like the proverbial arrow that hits your reader right between the eyes. It’s got to be so interesting to your reader he can’t tear his eyes away. When you can manage that, you know you’ve hit the bullseye.

And you don’t get a second chance to hit that bullseye. Once your prospect loses interest and leaves - that’s it, end of story.

So here’s what you need to do – according to John Caples there are three types of headlines you should be looking to write if you want it to be successful:

1. Self-interest - This type of headline is the best as it involves something that appeals to his interest, his desires. Remember that all he cares about is what he gets out of it.


2. News – This can be something that is new, or a new angle on something old. Combine this one with something which is of interest to your reader and you could have a home run.


3. Curiosity – As the name suggest, this is the type of headline which piques the interest of your reader. This type of headline, while it can work, is more of a gamble. If the reader is curious he may or may not bother to read it as it does not appeal to his selfish wants.

Remember that the headline needs to make a big promise. You can’t afford to mess around here by trying to be funny -- or clever -- or arrogant – and you certainly should not make any assumptions of your reader. He doesn’t have to read your copy at all. So you need to give him a bloody good reason to take time out of his busy day to read your ad.

Take a look at these headlines (taken from John Caples’ Tested Advertising Methods)

1. "NO... NO... DON’T CALL ON ME!"


2. THE ODDS ARE 9 TO 1 AGAINST YOU


3. "I’LL NEVER GIVE ANOTHER PARTY," SHE SOBBED


4. A TEST OF HOW "WELL READ" YOU ARE


5. IS WORRYING ROBBING YOU OF THE GOOD THINGS OF LIFE?

And how about Yahoo!’s latest offering:

This time it’s personal. It’s y!ou

Now, I don’t know about you, but the only thing to go through my mind when I saw that was, "What!?"

When you think that this excuse for an ad is actually competing with successful one’s it makes you wonder how long this company will stay in business with advertising like that.

I’ll bet the advertising agency has made enough to survive for some time, though.

What it boils down to is this, if these adverts fail to capture the attention of the intended audience, then the ad has failed. That’s all there is to it.

Not one of these headlines makes any big promises. None contains anything that promises any benefit to the reader, nor do they offer any news.

So keep that in mind – if you want your headline to succeed, make sure it promises something to the reader. Make sure it works on his emotions – his wants and his desires.

Oh, one last thing, unlike with my blog, when I write a sales letter I take a heck of a lot longer to come up with a healined.  Not a few minutes, or even a few hours. It can take days... and involve a LOT of writing.

Best,
Rezbi

A Conversation On Advertising With David Ogilvy

John Crichton interviews David Ogilvy in 1977. This full interview is full of advertising gems.

Best,
Rezbi

A Conversation On Advertising With David Ogilvy

John Crichton interviews David Ogilvy in 1977. This full interview is full of advertising gems.

Best,
Rezbi

Leo Burnett - Advertising Genius

A hearfelt speech during a company holiday by one of the true giants of advertising.

Best,
Rezbi

Can You Guess Why These Headlines Were So Successful?

I was going to go deeper into writing headlines today, but I thought I'd do a little something different first.

A big part of being a good copywriter lies in being able to figure out why some things work and some things don't.  By knowing that it's easier to reverse engineer good copy and use it to your advantage when writing your own copy, instead of just swiping all the time.

So, I'm going to list a few well-known headlines and see who can come up with the best explanation as to why it worked.

Some of these are very well known others maybe not so much.  However, what I will say is, they were all successful headlines and made a bundle of cash for the advertiser concerned.

Here they are:

1. A Little Mistake That Cost A Farmer $3,000 A Year


2. How to Win Friends and Influence People


3. Do You Make These Mistakes in English?


4. Why Some Foods 'Explode' in Your Stomach


5. Whose Fault When Children Disobey?

Why do YOU think they were successful?  What I can tell you is, in all cases the explanation is a real simple one.  Think about why the headline appeals to you.

Try as many as you can, but don't cheat by looking them up.  You can use this to test your own copywriting skills.

I'll give you my take on why I think they were hits next week.  I'll also be going into the anatomy of a headline, and it'll be quite in-depth.

I'm moving around a lot so I'll be posting about once a week, unless I can get around to writing more.

Best,
Rezbi

How Advertising Agencies Come Up With Award Winning Campaigns?

You couldn't make it up if it wasn't true, could you.

Regain The Lost Millions

This piece is about millions of pounds that are wasted every year - needlessly.

It all starts with that wonderful word "strategy". There's a lot of hot air about it in marketing.

The word comes from the Greek for general. What does it mean?

Using your forces to achieve an objective as effectively as possible:

In business, that means getting the maximum profit with the minimum necessary effort and cost.

Or in the words of former Coca Cola marketing boss, Sergio Zyman, "Selling more stuff more often to more people at higher prices"

Most marketers spend prodigious time and effort looking for business, whilst ignoring money that's just waiting to be picked up - money we already have within our grasp, but don't realise it, or forget it.

The prime example: enquiries you have received, but don't try to convert with enough determination, intelligence or vigour.

Let me explain - and see if you agree.

Sounds sensible - but is crazy

Compare two communications.

One is a mailing or e-mail to people a marketer thinks might be prospects. "Cold" prospects.

The marketer has put an immense amount of effort into it. It's got every trick in the book, because getting a response from someone you don't know is hard. Makes sense, right?

The other is a reply to someone who's enquired about something. A brochure or other material and a letter thanking the respondent for the enquiry and suggesting they read the brochure and order now.

If it's being done on-line it will be a simple thank you and a suggestion to visit the website

This is a much easier task, as the respondent has already expressed interest. So that makes sense, right?

Wrong, wrong, wrong - a thousand times WRONG!

Because what seems to make sense is in fact senseless.

And that is where the vanishing millions are.

For though it is indeed true that selling cold is harder than selling to warm enquirers, it is even more true that the EASY money is amongst those warm enquiries.

So more effort, not less, should be applied to them. They really deserve every trick in the book. They have raised their hands and said, "I'm here! I'm interested! Come and get me!"

They are infinitely more likely to reply. Just consider: for one of our clients a cold mailing might get .1% response - and that would be a good result. If someone had enquired they might get five times that percentage

In fact I bet there is more money lying around waiting to be picked up because of this than anywhere else in your business. And not just because many take these enquiries for granted as "easy" sales and don't try hard enough.

But also because they don't follow them up enough - which you should do, as one of my favourite clients put it, "until they give in".

Because they will buy when they want to buy - not when it suits you.

To sum up:

If you want more than your fair share of the lost millions -

1. Put more effort into enquiry responses than into cold mailings


2. Follow up until it doesn't pay any more.

So there are two thoughts for you.

Best - and thanks to those who have sent kind messages.

Drayton

P.S.  This is the sixth of Drayton Bird’s 101 free helpful marketing ideas.  You can sign up on the link below for the rest.

—————————————–

Website: http://www.draytonbird.com / www.eadim.com

Click here to get 101 free helpful marketing ideas. Marketers from all over the world think they’re a pot of gold.

The Drayton Bird Blog – please do not visit if you are easily offended.

How to Ensure Your Sales Message Gets Read

No one reads your advert just for the sake of reading it.  If you want your reader to continue to read your advertising, give him a reason to do so.  Otherwise he will take one look and switch off.  You'd be surprised by the numbers of ads which actually do just that.

When you write a sales letter, don't make it so blatantly obvious you're selling something.  And certainly do NOT make it dull.

You cannot bore people into buying your product.  You can only interest them in buying it. David Ogilvy

What you want to ensure is to write your advert in such a way as to ensure your reader's attention is grabbed... and kept.  This is what increases the value of your advert: The fact that people actually remain interested in it from the headline to the subhead; from the subhead to the first paragraph; from the first paragraph to the next.  And so on.

As you can see from the paragraph, the sales message begins with the headline.  If your headline can grab your reader’s attention by the eyeballs, and keep hold of it, 80 to 90 percent of the job of the ad is accomplished.

... the headline is 50 to 75 percent of the advert. John Caples

David Ogilvy went even further. He said:

On the average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy.  It follows that unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90 percent of your money.

When you take into account the fact your headline is competing with other headlines, especially if your advert is in a print magazine or newspaper, you can see why it's even more important to get it right.

One way to ensure you have a successful headline is to ensure it contains some news element.  You could announce a new product; a new way of doing something which already exists or a new way of making use of it; a new way of saving money.   Or basically anything with news which pulls at the heartstrings of your reader: An emotional desire.

Whatever it is you say you need to make a big promise.  As far as your reader is concerned it has to be worth his while taking the time to stop everything else and reading your message.

Leave your comments and let me know what you think.

Best,
Rezbi

"When You're Up To Your Armpits In Alligators...

... it's hard to drain the swamp"

If you find what I'm about to suggest pathetically obvious, I'm sorry. Many of the things I'll put to you are.

And the reason is simple. Although we may know things, far too often we don't do them.

So here's something one of my clients does. They send out the same (not very brilliant) e-mail week after week after week.

Let me guess what you're thinking. Is it something like this?

Isn't that far too often? And anyhow, if they sent out a variety of imaginative ones they'd do better.

Well, they do it for two reasons.

1. Because it works. And it works because you never know when prospects will buy, so you have to keep plugging away.

2. Because it's better than nothing. And they're so busy fighting alligators that they'd probably send out nothing if they weren't careful

I constantly see clients who spend weeks, even months, squandering priceless days and weeks over small details that will make little or no difference - when they should just get on with it.

As the French writer Voltaire, put it over 250 years ago, The best is the enemy of the good.

Three years ago my partner and I went to see two firms in the same city on the same day. One spent six months having meetings about the copy we suggested - in fact I have no idea if it ever went out. The other got the mailing we proposed out within a week, and were our biggest client within three months. Today they are the leading firm in their field. This has little to do with us. But it has everything to do with two things. 1. They communicate more than their competitors. Once they have a prospect they keep everlastingly at that prospect. I once asked their marketing director how long they keep mailing and e-mailing people. "Until they give in," he replied. 2. They don't sit around wasting hot air on whether something will work or not. They get on with it.

The American expert Richard V. Benson said, "There are two answers to every problem. Answer #1: Test everything. Answer #2: Refer to answer #1."

People test to find out whether one message will work better than another. But there is another, even simpler reason. It is to eliminate useless discussion. Why waste time? Let the customers decide for you!

I'll wager that if you communicate more often than your competitors, you will outdo them. Keep at it till it doesn't pay ... then give it a rest and try again.

There is a direct relationship between profit and communication. The more you tell the more you sell.

If you spend 5 minutes a day thinking of reasons to talk to your prospects and customers - things that might benefit or interest them (not you) - you will find it the best ROI you ever had.

By the way, let me know if you have particular questions or problems. There's hardly any kind of business or marketing discipline we haven't had experience of.

Drayton

P.S.  This is the first of Drayton Bird's 101 free helpful marketing ideas.  You can sign up on the link below for the rest.

-----------------------------------------

Website: http://www.draytonbird.com / www.eadim.com

Click here to get 101 free helpful marketing ideas. Marketers from all over the world think they’re a pot of gold.

The Drayton Bird Blog – please do not visit if you are easily offended.

His Wife Thinks He’s Nugging Futs

It’s nearly 4pm here in the North West of England… it’s been raining since late morning.

And I love it.

Over the past few days we’ve had blistering weather… at least upper 20 or lower 30 degrees centigrade.

I know, for most hot countries that’s pretty cool, but for us it’s HOT!

We had to keeps the fans on all night.

The rain is a welcome relief with all the windows open and the air feeling a lot fresher.

Beautiful.

Onto the headline.

That came from an email I received from Matt Furey a few days ago and I thought it’s just pure genius.

What makes it even better for me is that I think like this all the time — not swearing, but switching words round — but it never occured to me to use it in my writing.

That’s one of the reasons I like old Matty’s emails… they’re full of common sense nuggets.

Another thing I’ve learned from him is that you CAN take ideas from other sources and sell them.

It’s easy.

D’you know why it’s easy?

Because people buy them.

Remember, you may have seen something for donkey’s years and think nothing of it, but it’s most likely to be completely new to the majority of people.

Let’s face it, there’s a few billion people floating around and not all of them get to see everything you do.

Here’s an example, Matt sells a book and makes six figures a year from it.

The funny thing is, this book is available on the internet for nothing.

Look, I’m not disclosing this here to expose anyone, because the fact is Matt Furey isn’t the only guy who does this.

And people know it.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the people buying the book already know it’s freely available.

There’s two reasons why they still buy it, in my opinion.

1. They want a hard copy to keep on their shelves coz it looks good.
2. Have you seen Matt’s sales copy?

That’s right, if you have the right chops and can write persuasive copy, you can sell ice to eskimos… so I’ve heard.

And that’s all there is to it.

Rezbi

P.S. You know what’s cool about Maxwell Sackheim’s Billion Dollar copywriting course? You learn how to write the type of persuasive sales copy you need to sell your goods and get the positive results you want. Get your copy now — http://billiondollarcopywriting.com/ so you can start reaping the benefits of your hard work and business.

P.P.S. Even if you don’t write your own copy, you’ll know how to recognise whether or not the copy that’s written for you is any good or if you’re just being ripped off. So go ahead and reserve your copy now http://billiondollarcopywriting.com/.

Don't Balk At Selling High Ticket Items

Over the past few years I’ve spent quite a lot of money educating myself on the various intricacies of business, both online and offline.

To be exact, I’ve spent around $40,000.

Some of that money was spent on courses of various types – audio, video, manual, books, etc, and some was spent on coaching programs.

A lot of those were very good and I’ve learned a lot from them… others… not so good.

As you can imagine, the prices of these products and services varied from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars.

However, one thing which struck me about almost all of them was the sales processes.

They were all the same… or… at least very similar.

Just because one cost more and another cost less made no difference – they still needed to ‘sell’ me on the value of buying it.

The sellers all had to explain to me why their product was worth the price… and why their product was better than the rest.

(Not all turned out to be true to their words, but that’s another story).

They also all had to answer any and all questions I had, and break down any reservations I may have had about the product.

Let’s face it, just because one may have cost only a few dollars doesn’t mean I was willing to hand over my cash, even if it was rubbish.

And, just because another may have been a bit on the expensive side, doesn’t mean I wasn’t willing to buy it.

If I was getting what I was hoping to get, price was irrelevant.

(Again, I didn’t always get what I paid for. On the other hand, with some of the lower priced books, I received a lot more than I paid for).

The difference between the higher priced items and the lower priced ones was that I usually took more time over the former – looking for as much information as I could find.

As you can imagine, when the price was higher, I did a lot more reading.

I usually read so much about the product that, if you were to put it altogether it would amount to a 200 page book.

I guess that should answer the question whether or not people read long copy.

The fact is, when the interest is there, people will read as much as is necessary to make a decision.

On the other hand, I usually never read as much for lower priced items, unless the sales copy was so good I just enjoyed reading it.

So there’s an argument for both sides.

What does that say about lower and higher priced products?

Well, it tells me that it takes a lot more to persuade me to part with my money for the high priced goodies.

And I would imagine most people are the same.

However, funny as it may sound, I’ve bought products in the past where I bought the same product from one seller as opposed to another based purely on the fact that they had more information about it.

Does that make sense?

I remember I bought a martial arts video from company (A) and passed over company (B) simply because I liked the way (A) described the product, even though it was the exact same product.

What does that tell you?

What it tells me is that good long copy beats good short copy, even for the same product.

Why?

You see, the long copy answered all my questions.

I think it was Rosser Reeves who said something along the lines of entering the conversation the potential customer is having with himself.

Something like that.

I think what he was saying is you should imagine what he is thinking at every stage of the sales copy… all the different questions, doubts and suspicions he may have as he’s reading.

You see, if you were speaking to him directly, he would be asking you questions and you’d be answering them then and there.

On a sales copy, you don’t have that luxury so you have to imagine what he might be, and probably will be, wondering.

Anticipate them all and answer them in your copy.

How to Get Set Up In One Hour

Yesterday my brother got a new pair of sun glasses.

He loves his toys.

You see, my brother is older than me and handicapped, both physically and mentally.

In effect, even though he’s in his mid 40s he’s still a child.

So when he got the new sun glasses he was running around showing them to everyone.

This morning my little boy ran downstairs, with my brother behind him, laughing and saying, “Look, dad, he’s already broken them”.

One side was broken but that was no surprise to me as it’s quite a regular occurrence, so I just ignored it.

Then I saw my son, 8 years old and the younger of two boys, putting the glasses back together with duct tape.

I left them and began to read my emails.

Two minutes later my brother came running into my office to show me the sun glasses he had put on.

He was happy — he could put them on again and the fact they were still broken was irrelevant.

Why am I telling you this?

Look, when something breaks you could cry about it and complain there’s nothing you can do, or you can use some ‘duct tape’ to repair it and carry on as before.

Sure, it may not be ideal, but it’s better than not doing anything at all.

By putting the tape on, my brother at least has his sun glasses… and they’ll suffice until he gets a new pair.

Even my 8 year old boy knows this.

Rezbi

P.S. Sometimes it’s the things which take no time at all to do which bring us the best results. You can work on that ebook for months or years and still be waiting to achieve something. Or, you can get off your butt, do something in an hour and get the kind of results you could only dream about before. The really cool thing about Russell Brunson’s Micro Continuity program is that it shows you exactly how to do exactly that — create a product and sales page and get it up and running making money in an hour.

Check it out here Micro Continuity… he’s also giving away a preloaded MP3 with information from a Micro Continuity program costing thousands.

Scientific Advertising (Chapter 10 - Things Too Costly) Claude Hopkins

Many things are possible in advertising which are too costly to attempt.
That is another reason why every project and method should be weighed
and determined by a known scale of cost and result.

Changing people’s habits is very expensive. A project which involves
that must be seriously considered. To sell shaving soap to the peasants
of Russia one would first need to change their beard-wearing habits. The
cost would be excessive. Yet countless advertisers try to do things
almost as impossible. Just because questions are not ably considered,
and results are untraced and unknown.

For instance, the advertiser of a dentifrice may spend much space and
money to educate people to brush their teeth. Tests which we know of
have indicated that the cost of such converts may run from $20 to $25
each. Not only because of the difficulty, but because much of the
advertising goes to people already converted.

Such a cost, of course, is unthinkable. One might not in a lifetime get
it back in sales. The maker who learned these facts by tests makes no
attempt to educate people to the tooth brush habit. What cannot be done
on a large scale profitably cannot be done on a small scale. So not one
line in any ad is devoted to this object. This maker, who is constantly
guided in everything by keying every ad, has made a remarkable success.

Another dentrifrice maker spends much money to make converts to the
tooth brush. The object is commendable, but altruistic. The new business
he creates is shared by his rivals. He is wondering why his sales
increase is in no way commensurate with his expenditure.

An advertiser at one time spent much money to educate people to the use
of oatmeal. The results were too small to discover. All people know of
oatmeal. As a food for children it has age-old fame. Doctors have
advised it for many generations. People who don’t serve oatmeal are
therefore difficult to start. Perhaps their objections are
insurmountable. Anyway, the cost proved to be beyond all possible
return.

There are many advertisers who know facts like these and concede them.
They would not think of devoting a whole campaign to any such impossible
object. Yet they devote a share of their space to that object. That is
only the same folly on a smaller scale. It is not good business.

No one orange grower or raisin grower could attempt to increase the
consumption of those fruits. The cost might be a thousand times his
share of the returns. But thousands of growers combined have done it on
those and many other lines. There lies one of the great possibilities of
advertising development. The general consumption of scores of foods can
be profitably increased. But it must be done through wide co-operation.

No advertiser could afford to educate people on vitamins or germicides.
Such things are done by authorities, through countless columns of
unpaid-for space. But great successes have been made by going to people
already educated and satisfying their created wants.

It is a very shrewd thing to watch the development of a popular trend,
the creation of new desires. Then at the right time offer to satisfy
those desires. That was done on yeasts, for instance, and on numerous
antiseptics. It can every year be done on new things which some popular
fashion or wide-spread influence is bringing into vogue. But it is a
very different thing to create that fashion, taste or influence for all
in your field to share.

There are some things we know of which might possibly be sold to half
the homes in the country. A Dakin-fluid germicide, for instance. But the
consumption would be very small. A small bottle might last for years.
Customers might cost $1.50 each. And the revenue per customer might not
in ten years repay the cost of getting.

Mail order sales on single articles, however popular, rarely cost less
than $2.50 each. It is reasonable to suppose that sales made through
dealers on like articles will cost approximately as much. Those facts
must be considered on any one-sale article. Possibly one user will win
others. But traced returns as in mail order advertising would prohibit
much advertising which is now being done.

Costly mistakes are made by blindly following some ill-conceived idea.
An article, for instance, may have many uses, one of which is to prevent
disease. Prevention is not a popular subject, however much it should be.
People will do much to cure a trouble, but people in general will do
little to prevent it. This has been proved by many disappointments.

One may spend much money in arguing prevention when the same money spent
on another claim would bring many times the sales. A heading which
asserts one claim may bring ten times the results of a heading which
asserts another. An advertiser may go far astray unless he finds this
out.

A tooth paste may tend to prevent decay. It may also beautify the teeth.
Tests will probably show that the latter appeal is many times as strong
as the former. The most successful tooth paste advertiser never features
tooth troubles in his headlines. Tests have proved them unappealing.
Other advertisers in this line center on those troubles. That is often
because results are not known and compared.

A soap may tend to cure eczema. It may at the same time improve the
complexion. The eczema claim may appeal to one in a hundred while the
beauty claims would appeal to nearly all. To even mention the eczema
claims might destroy the beauty claim.

A man has a relief for asthma. It has done so much for him that he
considers it a great advertising possibility. We have no statistics on
this subject. We do not know the percentage of people who suffer from
asthma. A canvass might show it to be one in a hundred. If so, he would
need to cover a hundred useless readers to reach the one he wants. His
cost of results might be twenty times as high as on another article
which appeals to one in five. That excessive cost would probably mean
disaster. For reasons like these every new advertiser should seek for
wise advice. No one with the interests of advertising at heart will
advise any dubious venture.

Some claims not popular enough to feature in the main are still popular
enough to consider. They influence a certain number of people–say
one-fourth of your possible customers. Such a claim may be featured to
advantage in a certain percentage of headlines. It should probably be
included in every advertisement. But those are not things to guess at.
They should be decided by actual knowledge, usually by traced returns.

This chapter, like every chapter, points out a very important reason for
knowing your results. Scientific advertising is impossible without that.
So is safe advertising. So is maximum profit.

Groping in the dark in this field has probably cost enough money to pay
the national debt. That is what has filled the advertising graveyards.
That is what has discouraged thousands who could profit in this field.
And the dawn of knowledge is what is bringing a new day in the
advertising world.

Get to Know My Teacher - He'll Save You A Lot of Heartache And Cash

I have a wonderful teacher.

In fact, you know him.

I'll tell you his name a little later.

For now, all you need to know is that this teacher knows everything.

When I say everything, I mean...everything.

How does he know all these things?

Every single thing that's ever happened in the past, my teacher knows about... without exception.

Simple - he's been around a long time.

I call upon my teacher once in a while and, when I remember.

And, whether in business or just life in general, when I take heed of the lessons he teaches me I know I'm less likely to make mistakes... especially the same one I've made in the past.

Don't get me wrong... he doesn't know everything.

For a start, he can't tell me with absolute certainty what's going to happen in the future.

Nobody can.

Only God knows that.

Anyway, let me give you an example of where I messed up a few times...

In my online business, when I ignored what ever my teacher told me, I did the same things over and over again.

By that, I mean the same things that were bringing me no results.

And by doing those same things, guess what happened?

Nothing.

I got no results.

On the flipside, when I listened to my teacher and abandoned those things which did not work, more often than not, the results changed.

Not always - like I said, he doesn't know everything that's going to happen - my teacher.

My teacher can also teach me things others do.

For example, do you remember Black Monday?

It was the day the stock market crashed on October 19, 1987.

I remember it... vividly.

And I haven't forgotten.

A couple of years ago I warned some people against buying property.

I reminded them that what happened before Black Monday was exactly what was happening then.

I didn't mean the inner mechanics - just the fact the prices of everything was going way too high.

And, when things go too high up too quickly, there's only one way to go...

Down.

They didn't listen and bought property.

And now they have property worth less than they bought them for.

That happened within a few months of them buying them.

I think we all know what happened there, don't we.

So, back to my teacher.

I recommend him to everybody, without exception, because I know there's no-one in the entire world who would not benefit from his knowledge.

His name?

History.

Have You Heard of Drayton Bird?

Here's what David Ogilvy said of Drayton and his seminal book on marketing “Commonsense Direct & Digital Marketing”...

Drayton Bird knows more about Direct Marketing than anyone in the world. His book about it is pure gold.

Eric Van Vooren of BBDO Direct in Brussels said...

Without doubt the best marketing book which exists.

And probably my favourite quote about Drayton's book come's from Robert Leiderman, the leading telemarketing expert, when he said...

Perceptive, provocative and funny as hell.

You get an idea of the type of personality Drayton Bird is when he begins his blog with...

Welcome to Bird droppings

Okay, so who is Drayton Bird?

The Chartered Institute of Marketing named him “one of 50 individuals who’ve shaped today’s marketing”.

As you’ve already read above, David Ogilvy said he “knows more about direct marketing than anyone in the world.”

Side note...

If you don’t know who David Ogilvy is, this is what his biography says of him… he’s the guy who…

“Founded the agency which would become Ogilvy & Mather. Starting with no clients and a staff of two, he built his company into one of the eight largest advertising networks in the world. Today it has 359 offices in 100 countries”.

And, while David died in 1999, he...

remains one of the most famous names in advertising and one of the handful of thinkers (Raymond Rubicam, Leo Burnett, William Bernbach, and Ted Bates) who shaped the business after the 1920s.

Drayton has written three business related books including, “Commonsense Direct & Digital Marketing”, “Salesletters that sell” & “Marketing Insights and Outrages”.

He has even written a novel entitled, in his own inimitable way, “Some rats run faster” which he wrote at the age of 27 when, I’m sure he would probably agree, was when dinosaurs still roamed the earth.

Drayton say of this book, “Hardly anyone read this brilliant work as it had virtually no plot”, which isn’t surprising as business and marketing are where his strengths lie.

He's written over 1,000 columns for international magazines, spoken in 42 countries and worked with many leading brands, incl. Amex, BA, Deutsche Post, Ford, Microsoft, Nestle, P&G, Philips, The Royal Mail, Unilever and Visa. In 1977, he and two partners set up Trenear-Harvey, Bird & Watson, sold in l984 to O&M.

As international Vice-Chairman and Creative Director, he helped O&M Direct become the world's largest DM agency network, and was elected to the worldwide Ogilvy Group board.

He now runs Drayton Bird Associates and has interests in 5 other firms. He says the ones he never visits do much better, but I kinda doubt that.

I studied Drayton Bird’s work when I studied business in the mid-1990s and it seems surreal when you get to meet and work with someone with Drayton’s reputation, someone's work you studied.

In marketing terms it’s like being on first name terms with the biggest movie and rock stars.

Except for the fact Drayton actually knows how to think for himself.

You can get his book “Commonsense Direct & Digital Marketing” – now on its 5th edition here http://directanddigitalmarketing.com/ along with his other books. That's a direct link.

Take it from me, or you can find out for yourself, Drayton had me chuckling from the second paragraph.

This is not your average crusty text book... it's almost like reading a novel.

Ken McCarthy, of The System Seminar and probably the leading exponent of utilising the internet for business had this to say of “Commonsense Direct & Digital Marketing”...

What makes direct marketing such an appealingly reliable way of making money in good times and bad is that it's not based on theory, opinion, fad or fantasy.

Instead it's rooted in unchanging principles of human behavior.

If you're new to direct marketing, you won't find a better guide to this reality-based approach to selling than Drayton Bird.

If you're an "old hand," this is a book you'll want to keep handy as an entertaining and insightful reminder of marketing principles you know you can always count on.”

If you've been in business, or at least studied it for any length of time, you'll have heard of Peter Drucker.

Peter Drucker is generally recognised as the guru's guru when it comes to management.

Well, as far as I'm concerned...

Drayton Bird is the Peter Drucker of Marketing.

Or should that be... Peter Drucker is the Drayton Bird of management?

Here's that link again, go check out the comments on Amazon http://directanddigitalmarketing.com/

How Does A Rookie Know A Scam From A Great Gift?

I’ve got to ask you, how does a rookie, as so many of us are, know a scam from a great gift, and for nothing? Smells like an elephant to many of us, high and stinky. How do you know wats great or con?

That’s the specific question one of my readers asked me via email.

Now, it’s not usual that I reprint anything form emails word for word, but in this case I thought it necessary.

You see, for a long time I resisted writing a post like this… and… even if I did write one I tended to delete it almost immediately after.

The reason for that is there seems to be an almost unwritten rule that no one writes negative things about other marketers no matter what… or suffer the consequences.

And, being only human, that kinda made me a little nervous.

However, after receiving numerous emails similar to the one above, I figure I owe it to my readers to say something.

The good thing is, the scam artists are fewer than I originally believed.

The bad news is, the ones who do exist are… how can I put it… scum.

And they probably deserve to get locked up, not for just conning people, but for the hardship they put those people through.

Not everyone who gets conned suffers as they probably do have enough cash, jobs, etc. which means they’re still okay.

There are those, however, who don’t have backup and tend to dive into something through desperation.

Believe me I know… I was one of them.

Anyway, I’m going to describe one incident which really made me think about internet marketers, and which initially led me to believe they were all scum.

Of course, I don’t think that any more as I’ve educated myself and know a little more than I did.

It was in 2005, when I saw an advert by a very prominent internet marketer promoting their coaching and promising much, with amazing testimonials.

These testimonials were written and video… of real people… or so I thought.

I found out later, when it was too late and by accident, that those same people in those videos were working for a number of other people.

Some of them even had their pictures on various other sites advertising myriad other things.

In effect, their testimonials were outright lies and they were probably paid to do them.

Anyway, going back to the coaching…

This coaching cost me $4,000.

The thing is, once I was on there, I realised it wasn’t being run by the internet marketer promoting it…

It was outsourced to a different company.

I couldn’t believe it.

However, being fairly new to the industry I figured maybe this is how it’s done.

Cutting a long story short, I knew I’d been totally conned when I sent a specific email asking for advice, and received a generalised reply.

In fact, here’s a few excerpts from those emails…

Hello *****,

I’m sorry I feel that I am not getting the service that I signed up for. I realise that this is a coaching program but, the first session consisted of a recorded video telling me how to get myself set up as a business/sole trader, in my case, when I was expecting to be coached on how to start and internet business. I was told that after each session I just need to be patient until the next session.

I feel that I have paid a lot of money for this and “to be patient” is not something I was expecting to be told. When I spoke to you guys (not you particularly) I did mention that I really need to get going with this as I was paying for it with a credit card and I do not have a job to make the repayments. As a result, I need to be earning rapidly. I was told by the person who called regarding the coaching that I will not even be setting up a web site for at least two months. In fact, I would not even start working on one until then.

I cannot wait that long. I am in a lot of trouble right now if I can’t make these payments to my card. I would really appreciate it if you would please issue me with a refund as I have a family to feed as well as making these rapayments.

Thank you,
Rezbi

They knew my situation before I got on their ‘coaching’ course.

Here’s another…

Hello,

This is a message for S*** L***: I was told I should be receiving a call from, I think it was J***, on Monday regarding my particular situation. I have not received that call. Please let me know if he will still be calling.

I have been going through the lessons that are available online but they are quite limited. I am emailing my coach to see if there is anything further I can do meanwhile.

Thanks,
Rezbi

You can see on the second one I was so angry I didn’t even feel like putting anyone’s name in the salutation.

Here’s a couple of others…

Hi,

I’ve sent emails before trying to get in touch with a coach with no luck and have tried phoning but can’t get through on the advisory line for some reason. Would someone please call me back ASAP. I am on **********.

Thanks,
Rezbi

I don’t know about you, but for $4,000 I expect a teensy weensy little bit more.

And this is the once which really sealed it for me…

Hi,
If your product ideas fit the suggestions that we gave you in course 3 and you can find a supplier, then go with it.

J*** R***
ihelp@*****.com
8*******

—–Original Message—–
From: G N Rezbi [mailto:rezbi@feelinglazy.co.uk]
Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 11:20 AM
To: J*** R***(icoach)
Subject: Re: Product

Hi J***,

Thanks for that, I’ll do that. Just wondering what your thought are regarding my ideas?

Thanks,
Rezbi

If my product ideas fit the suggestions!?

I was a complete beginner and all I was looking for was the guy to take a look and give me his ‘expert’ opinion on whether or not it was a good market to go into.

For $4,000 of ‘coaching’ was that too much to ask for?

Now, fast forward a couple of years and I’m looking at another internet marketer promoting something similar.

Just out of curiosity I decide to give them a call.

A guy answered the phone and mentioned the name of the promoting company - seemed fair.

However, something didn’t sound right, so I asked the guy straight if they were the same company I had been with before.

Obviously I didn’t use those words, they didn’t know who I was.

He replied that, indeed, they were.

I don’t know what happened, but I’m guessing they got found out, wound up their old company, and started a new one…

Doing the exact same thing.

Suffice to say I wouldn’t have gone with them even if I needed to.

The really funny thing is, the internet marketer promoting their ‘coaching’ is another very highly regarded company just like the first one.

Or, are all those testimonials for them lies, too?

Now, I can’t tell you for sure how you can know who’s out there to con you and who’s not.

What I can tell you is, the majority seem to be okay.

So, my suggestion is, get on a few lists and begin to build a relationship with those people - find out who you can trust through the way they ’speak’ to you through their emails.

See if their recommendations for products are any good.

You may end up getting some of those products, if you feel they’re something you need, but please don’t buy anything unless you’re sure…

Especially if they cost a lot of money.

Also, please, please, please… don’t buy anything if you don’t have the money.

If someone tells you to ‘leverage’ your credit cards to ‘invest’ in your business, just assume you’re leveraging your credit card to grow theirs… and run a mile.

Or, just delete the email or put the phone down.

Whatever it is you do to stop yourself getting scammed, do it.

Here’s what P. T. Barnum wrote in his excellent book ‘The Art of Money Getting’

Young men starting in life should avoid running into debt. There is scarcely anything that drags a person down like debt.

I would advise you to heed those words.

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Does Blogging Give You An Adantage Over Other - Static - Websites?

Does it ever occur to you why people write blogs and, what’s more interesting, why others read them?

One of the reasons I’ve found to be true is because bloggers tend to be seen by a lot of people like newspaper journalists or magazine columnists.

I know this to be true as I personally run a few blogs on a variety of topics, and their readerships run into the hundreds and even thousands per day.

One thing I’ve found is the more ‘newsy but opinionated’ type of posts I make, where I write my own opinion on a public matter, the more readers I get.

This type of information on blogs is more interesting to the average reader as it has a more personal feel to it due the the person writing in his or her own voice, unlike the media.

Also, when you make a blog post, it gives your readers the chance to make their own comments - either for or against what you write - read other material linked to your post… or link something themselves.

In effect, a blog is very interactive, which is one of its main attractions.

And blogging is trendy - anybody who is anybody seems to have a blog, and it gives you the a satisfaction of blending in… of being appreciated for your writing.

It’s a way to ’speak’ your mind on public interests and events.

It’s a chance say what you feel… about… anything.

It’s a medium of keeping a record of everything you write, and call upon it if and when you need it… easily accessible.

It’s a chance to get into print without having to go through a publisher and all the related hassles and headaches.

You can even use a blog, whether as a writer or a reader, as a medium of debate… a place to air your opinions… as long as you know there are rules of engagement in all areas of life and realise others have opinions, too.

And, blogs are a perfect way of marketing your business and keeping in touch with your customers, your employees, your associates and whoever else has an interest in your business.

Lets face it, a blog can be used in almost any way you want to use it, and it gives the added advantage of the ability to update as often as you would want to… as long as what you have to say is interesting and easy to read - as I hope this blog is.

Why Blog?

Out of all the things I have tried personally, there is one thing which brings in more natural traffic than anything else...

... Content.

And the content which has brought me more traffic than any other is the content I have on my blogs.

A blog is a wonderful tool, both for marketers and for the average person who just wants to have a presence on the web.

Specifically for marketers, a blog can be a means of providing information, and for selling products.

In effect, the content on a blog can be utilised as a sales page.

This is also a very good reason why it is a good idea to learn copywriting.

In fact, it's essential for anyone utilising their blog for business to learn copywriting.

For, what may seem like idle ramblings to the average person, the correct wording can mean the difference between that reader ordering a product directly or indirectly from that site... or not.

When you think about it, a blog is an amazing tool.

When we want to make a sale on the internet, what do we do?

We write a sales letter.

Or, we get someone to write one for us.

And then we have to drive traffic to that page where, hopefully, the sales letter will be convincing enough to convert that traffic into sales.

The fabulous thing about a blog is, anything we write on there, if it's decent content, can be a sales letter.

Plus if we know what we're doing, every single article we write can be a sales letter.

Now, I've mentioned a few times about how fabulous I think a blog is and this is why...

A blog is constantly updated with fresh content...

And what are search engines always looking for?

You guessed it... fresh content.

The more regular the content and the more unique it is, the better the chances of your blog being listed.

And if you happen to attract visitors who comment on your blog, all the better as their comments also help to increase search engine rankings for search phrases.

You also have other bloggers with same or similar interests who may visit your site and comment.

They may even write posts on their own blogs about something you've written and link back to your original post, thus increasing link-backs to your site.

Those link-backs not only increase search engine rankings, but they also increase the traffic to your site.

Even sites which are not blogs may link back to your site if they have similar interests or are promoting something similar to your content.

One method for increasing traffic which I have personally only just recently begun to utilise is RSS feeds.

I've seen feeds from my sites on numerous other sites, whether intentionally by people interested in my content or sites which pull content from my site automatically.

Either way, they link back to my site, thus sending me even more traffic.

On some of my sites I also have an automatic announcement set up.

What this does is, every time I make a new post, my autoresponder sends out a short email to my subscribers informing them of it.

Result?

More traffic.

I know of quite a few online businesses whose main source of income is a blog.

One such marketers is Yaro Starak of Blog Mastermind.


Yaro makes a six-figure income as a direct result of running his blog which you can check out here Entrepreneurs-Journey.com

As well as earning a six-figure income from what you can see on that site, Yaro teaches others how to earn a six-figure incomes by doing the same here Membership Site Masterplan.

It's really a very simple business model where he blogs about... blogging.

You can see on his site he has several advertising spaces he 'rents' out for a regular income, and he also writes reviews on various products he promotes.

When you think about it, all he does is write a few articles on his blog, and that's all he really needs to do make a more than comfortable living.

Just imagine the additional income he has coming in from teaching others.

I do more or less the same on my on sites, except I don't hold courses on blogging... which doesn't mean to say I don't teach anything.

You can check out my internet marketing blog here Internet Marketing Secrets Revealed for a decent education on marketing both online and off.

I currently have a serialisation going on of Claude Hopkins' Scientific Advertising in both written and audio.

Here's How You Can Get Rich

People often ask me ...

"How can I get rich?"

Well ... let me tell you how I did it.

1. I learned very early in life that the ONLY way to make money was to "sell" something ... either a product or a service ... something people wanted or needed - or - do something for them they couldn't, or wouldn't, do for themselves.


2. I learned to "make do" with what I had, until I could get what I needed to do a better job.


3. I learned that I had to do anything necessary (but legal) to get to where I wanted to be, even if I didn't like doing it (especially if I didn't like doing it). -- You can do ANYTHING you need to do ... until you can do what you want to do.


4. I learned to never ask anyone to do anything for me that I wasn't willing to do myself - and - everyone who has ever worked with me has taught me about what they have done for me and how they did it. After a while, I could do it, too - but - maybe not as well as they did.


5. I learned to "pay" for what I wanted. If I couldn't afford it, I saved-up to be able to afford it. (Sometimes if seemed like forever.)


6. I learned that no matter how long it took to achieve my goal (whatever it was), it would have been just as long if I hadn't persisted, but I would have accomplished nothing.


7. I learned that NOTHING is as easy or as fast as it should be. It only gets easier and faster when you know how to really do it - and - learning how to really do it is just a matter of doing it over, and over, and over, until you finally find out how it works. Of course, if you give up after the first (second, third, or fourth) try, you'll never do it.


8. I learned most of what I know from my mistakes and failures. My successes never taught me anything ... they were only based upon what I had learned from my mistakes and failures.  (That's why those who are afraid to make mistakes, or fail, never achieve the success theydesire.)


9. I learned that my most prized possessions were my customers. People who, directly or indirectly, paid for my lunch every day. (That's why, unlike my contemporaries, I reply to my customers emails personally.)


10. I learned that "money" is NOT an end unto itself ... it is only a way of keeping score. (The saddest people in the world are those who are forever chasing the almighty dollar - and - the vast majority of them have no real respect for money.)


11. I learned to ASK for what I wanted or needed - and - to graciously accept a "NO" as readily as a "YES."

YES ... you can get rich - but - you'll have to do  it yourself.

No one will do it for you!

I get tickled by people who want to start at the top of the ladder. -- For some unknown reason, they honestly believe they are better than I am, since I had to start on the bottom rung and climb up one rung at a time.

When I mention the above, I often hear ... "Yeah. I could do that - but - it will take too much time. I need money now - and - I don't want to just make a little money, I want to get rich."

Sorry, you'll have to start where I started. -- Do what you need to do to make a little money. Then, do more and more of it to make more and more money. As you make more and more money, the greater the opportunities you will have to make even more money. -- Nothing succeeds like success ... even small success.

The more things you don't want to do, the fewer and fewer things you will do ... until you are doing as most people do ... NOTHING but dreaming!

I can teach you "how" to do it but, you won't get it, until you actually start doing it yourself.

Jim

P.S. -- Let me teach you how ... "You Can Be A  Millionaire In One-Year Or less!"

http://www.businesslyceum.com/BeAMillionaire.html

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Who  is J.F. (Jim) Straw?

Confessions of A Self Made Direct Marketing Multi-Millionaire. The Jim Straw Interview - Part 1

Confessions of A Self Made Direct Marketing Multi-Millionaire. The Jim Straw Interview - Part 2

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